| NEW BOOK GROUP STUDY FORMING! We’ll be reading the fantastic book, City of God: Faith in the Streets, by VERY popular author (and Episcopalian) Sara Miles. Check out what Nadia Bolz-Weber, author of the bestselling book, Patrix, had to say about the book: “Gorgeously written, City of God takes Jesus from the walls of the church to the streets of the city, showing us that where two or more Anglicans or prostitutes or head-injured junkies or housewives are gathered, He is with us. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.” Interested? Please sign up on the list at the back of the church to get a book—meeting dates will be scheduled soon!
HALLOWEEN BOWLING PARTY! …and fundraiser for Island Homeless Prevention, is on Sunday, October 28, at The Barn and Bowling Bistro, Oak Bluffs. Only $25.00 per bowler, and teams are encouraged! Includes 2 games and shoes. Session 1: Noon to 2pm; Session 2: 2pm – 4pm. Prizes for best costumes (optional), Silent Auction, and 10% of all food donated to Harbor Homes. Preregister by phone or email: 508-696-3840 or homelessprevention@dukescounty.org. GET A TEAM TOGETHER, GO BOWLING, HAVE A HALLOWEEN BLAST, AND HELP SUPPORT OUR ISLAND HOMELESS!
HOUSES OF GRACE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! The Houses of Grace Island Winter Shelter Program is gearing up for our fourth winter of providing overnight shelter to anyone on the island who needs it, and WE NEED YOU! For those who have served as volunteers in the past, please stay tuned for information about how the program has changed this year, and PLEASE SIGN UP AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN AGAIN! And for those of you who may have heard about the rewarding experience of serving in the shelter, here’s your chance to try it out! Everyone needs to attend only ONE orientation session prior to our start date of January 1:
Thursday, October 18, 7:00 pm at the Federated Church, Edgartown;
Monday, November 5, 7:00 pm, at St Andrew’s Church, Edgartown; and
Wednesday, December 5, 7:00 pm at Good Shepherd Parish Center, Oak Bluffs.
If you have any questions, or would like to contribute to the Island Homeless Shelter fund, please call Father Chip Seadale at 508-627-5330 and leave a message if you don’t get us on the line.
SUNDAY SCHOOL BEGINS AGAIN! We are delighted to have Sara Piazza—Sunday School teacher extraordinaire—back with us for another year of learning, singing and praying! All children age 4—10 are welcome to join us each Sunday at 9:00 am for some of life’s best, and most enduring, lessons about love and God. Know any families with children that age? Reach out and invite them!
THE MIGHTY SAINT ANDREW’S “SINGING SAINTS” CHOIR is set to begin rehearsals on a new night this year, and would love for YOU TO JOIN US! Rehearsals are on Tuesdays from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. All voices and levels of experience welcome—and there is a special place in heaven for TENORS AND BASSES!
Feel free to “try us out” and really—no strings attached—come sing and see how it feels!
YOUTH TRIP TO CITYREACH BOSTON: Open to all teens in grades 9—12, this is an overnight trip on Friday, December 14, 2018 to help shelter, feed and clothe our Boston neighbors—and learn! Students and parents interested to sign up or know more should call Father Chip at 774-563-9716. (Reservations and deposits are due by September 30!)
”DIRTY GOSPEL SUNDAYS”(featuring Workman Song and Sean McMahon) continues weekly on Sundays at the Ritz in OB and goes from 7 – 9pm. Come hear classic gospel songs and spirituals, with some pop “convertibles” about life and love—in a fun and informal setting!
HARBOR HOMESis a project that Father Chip and others have been working on for a couple of years now, and we’re looking for your help to get us up and running! This from the brochure (available on the table at the back of the church):
“Harbor Homes of MV is a collaborative island initiative that has a bold and beautiful focus: to help individuals become healthy and productive citizens by offering them secure housing and individualized support. Harbor Homes will provide congregate housing for individuals with incomes below 30% of the median family income for Dukes County and who are considered too poor for affordable housing. This will include the elderly on fixed incomes, adults on SSI,and unsheltered individuals living in poverty. Harbor Homes will offer the most accessible, cost effective and practical solution to responding to low income renters who lose their housing.”
If you (or someone you know) might be aware of any single-family residences that might be available to lease on a year-round basis, please see Father Chip. And please stay tuned to see how you might help us in our efforts!
IS ST ANDEW’S READY FOR A DISASTROUS EVENT? An Episcopal Relief & Development disaster preparedness training will be offered on Saturday, Oct. 27, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m., at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont Street) in Boston. Lunch will be provided. The training will facilitate the development of a ministry that assists congregations in anticipating and preparing for local, unexpected disastrous events. The session will explore how members of congregations can create and become familiar with various models and approaches, what resources and tools are available, and what supports and structures already exist for use in this important work. At the conclusion of the session, participants will be prepared to function as the Episcopal Relief & Development point person for the congregation. Lay participation is encouraged and clergy are welcome. RSVP by e-mail to jay@ stpauls-nbpt.org by Oct. 17 (please indicate any food restrictions). FOR INFORMATION: The Rev. Jay Jordan (978-465-5351 or jay@ stpauls-nbpt.org).
“I no longer believe we can “win” justice simply by filing lawsuits, flexing our political muscles or boosting voter turnout. Yes, we absolutely must do that work, but none of it—not even working for some form of political revolution—will ever be enough on its own. Without a moral or spiritual awakening, we will remain forever trapped in political games fueled by fear, greed and the hunger for power.” (Michelle Alexander)
“Healthy churches often say that they do only three things: worship, small groups, and community service…. When people say, “I’m going to church,” what they almost always mean is that they are going to attend a worship service at which they will be mostly a passive recipient. Imagine if that phrase came to mean, “I’m going to a small group where I can be authentic and intimate and give others grace to do the same, where I can pray and be prayed for, where I can learn and share a little of what I know, where I can care and be cared for, and where I can serve in a way that doesn’t benefit me except to help me find my purpose for living.” If that was what it meant to “go to church,” our churches would be exploding in growth. What I just described is what every human needs. Your church can provide a great gift by simply facilitating those kinds of transformational communities.” (from Liberating Hope)
“Do you believe in God?” The question seems simple enough. But a Pew [study] suggests that belief in God is far more complicated than a binary answer would suggest—and that belief in God and religious identity don’t always correlate. Four in five American adults say they “believe in God.” Of these believers, 70 percent say they believe in the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible, while 30 percent say they believe in another higher or spiritual power. But, surprisingly, almost half of the Americans who say they don’t believe in God also say they do believe in another higher power or spiritual force at work in the universe. Among the religiously unaffiliated—also known as the religious “nones”—nearly three-quarters (72 percent) believe in some form of higher power, and 17 percent believe in God as described in the Bible. And among self-described “atheists,” a full 18 percent believe in some form of spiritual higher power. Among self-described Christians, the data shows a similarly complicated spread of theological beliefs. For example, among self-described Christians, a full 20 percent believe in a higher power but don’t believe in the God described in the Bible. That number goes up to 26 percent for mainline Protestants and 28 percent for Catholics. In an American society in which … religious identity is often incredibly politically polarized, Pew’s results remind us that the religious tapestry of America is more complex than it may seem. How somebody identifies—an identity that is deeply rooted in racial, economic, and political ideologies as well as explicitly religious ones—may not necessarily reflect the content of their beliefs about God or the nature of the universe. … In other words, we shouldn’t assume that religious identity and belief are synonymous. —Tara Isabella Burton in Vox (4/26/2018).
“The Vision of St Andrew’s Church is to make God present in our families, our neighborhood, our town, the Island of Martha’s Vineyard, and in the world.”
Our Vestry:
Wardens: Carl Malmquist and Jessica Buckley
Treasurer: Wesley Brown
Parish Clerk: Pam Monterosso
Members at Large: Hans von Steiger, Sandra Mott, Leon Brathwaite, Chris Buchholz, Michael Balay and Harrison Kisiel
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